8-year-old girl died after being sucked into pipe at Texas hotel swimming pool, lawsuit says
An attorney has provided details about the tragic death of a young girl who died after she was reportedly sucked into a pipe at a hotel pool in Houston, Texas.
Content warning: Some may find some of the details of this story disturbing
The body of 8-year-old Aliyah Jaico was found Saturday after she was sucked into an unsecured part of the pool of a lazy river pool at a DoubleTree hotel, according to a report from KHOU.
Aliyah's family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit. They're suing the company that owns and operates DoubleTree by Hilton Houston Brookhollow.
"We are seeking justice for Aliyah, because this could have been avoidable," Family attorney Richard Nava told KHOU, also saying, "This hotel ran an establishment with many violations."
The lawsuit states that the family rented a room and were swimming when Aliyah went missing. It goes on to allege that management at the hotel denied the family's request to review security footage while they were searching for the child.
The lawsuit alleges that the pipe malfunctioned and was sucking in water when it should have been pushing water out.
According to a comment from the family attorney, Aliyah may have been trying keep her sister from getting sucked into the pipe.
Nava said the younger sister "might have been also drowning by being pulled into this pipe."
The younger sister was pulled out by a family member.
Texas EquuSearch, a nonprofit organization that provides search-and-rescue services, and Houston Police said security cam video shows Aliyah go under the water and that she doesn't resurface on the tape.
Tim Miller of Texas EquuSearch said the pool was drained and cameras attached to 20-foot-long pools were used to inspect the pipes. They found Aliyah's body inside.
"It was almost unbelievable," Miller said.
According to reports, the Houston Fire Department wasn't able to recover the child's body until nearly 14 hours after she went missing.
Nava says the details of Aliyah's death are disturbing.
"Her poor little body was contorted when she was sucked into this hole and pipe, 20 feet back. They had to break up concrete in order to extract her," the attorney said.
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